Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 25, 1993 TAG: 9301250006
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MAROONS TURN TABLES ON VA. WESLEYAN
A big win deserves a big finish.As the clock wound down on Sunday's Bast Center matchup between South Region stalwarts Roanoke and Virginia Wesleyan, the Maroons inserted the proper punctuation.
Bryant Lee's late alley-oop dunk and Hilliary Scott's ensuing rejection put an exclamation point on Roanoke's key 65-50 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory over the Marlins.
The two teams continue to move in opposite directions. It was the third ODAC win in five days for the Maroons, who are ranked fourth in the region. For No. 3 Virginia Wesleyan, it was the third loss in a miserable four-game, seven-day road swing.
The Marlins edged Roanoke 91-87 in a Norfolk shootout 10 days ago. Sunday, both teams shot below 38 percent.
Roanoke (13-3, 8-2) again won with defense. After holding Randolph-Macon to 30.6 percent shooting Saturday, the Maroons pressured Wesleyan into 23 turnovers and 17-for-52 (32.7 percent) shooting.
"There have been a lot of games we haven't shot well or executed well, but we still have come out with a win," said Roanoke coach Page Moir. "Last year, we had a lot younger team that lost some games at crunch time.
"We're winning those games now. One year of experience has made a world of difference for us."
Roanoke led the entire second half and took a 43-33 lead at the 12:25 mark on back-to-back 3-point goals by Dustin Fonder and Mike Thornton. Wesleyan wiped out most of that deficit with a 13-4 run that ended with a Robert Reich 3-pointer and a 47-46 Roanoke lead with 7:15 to play.
But Fonder, who was 1-for-5 on 3-pointers in his first 15 games, answered with another bomb and the Marlins never got closer than four. Thornton made a long two-point jumper and four free throws - and Wesleyan did not score for the final 3:21 - as Roanoke pulled away.
With under a minute remaining, Fonder stole the ball from David Cohen at midcourt, took several dribbles and lobbed a long-range alley-oop to Lee, who roused the crowd with the slam. The Marlins tried to answer quickly, but Scott swatted Corey Lakey's point-blank shot with 40 seconds left to further stoke the fans.
Scott finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. He shot 5-for-13 from the floor and, for the second day in a row, had just two points at halftime.
"We've been stepping up our defense the last couple of games and it's a good thing, because the shooting is not there," he said.
Lee added 11 points - including Roanoke's first seven - Kevin Martin had 10 and Thornton nine. Fonder had seven assists and four steals to go with his timely 3-pointers.
"I don't shoot much and teams are starting to scout us and back off of me," Fonder said. "Coach wants me to step up and score a little more - not force it, but take what's there."
The Marlins' Rick Chalk and Walt Lassiter combined for 29 points and 25 rebounds, but it didn't come easy for the low-post duo. Chalk missed eight of 13 shots and Lassiter fouled out with 2:28 remaining. No other Wesleyan player scored more than six points.
Last weekend, the Marlins (11-5, 7-3) were undefeated and tied for first place in the league. Now, Virginia Wesleyan heads home in third place, behind Emory & Henry and Roanoke.
"I don't know what to do," said despondent Marlins' coach Terry Butterfield. "All I know is that's not our ball club out there. It must be somebody else's. Ours is a lot better than that.
"We've lost three of four and it's pretty humbling, pretty humiliating. We've been our own worst enemy all week long." \
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL